Hellos and Goodbyes

So, now we come to one of the challenges of becoming a foreign service family. Teaching your children how to say goodbye and move on. Nate is far too young to understand but Philip is not. He's old enough to make friends and form attachments, and over time he has found a rare few that he calls his best friends.

This wouldn't be so bittersweet for all of us, except he has been befriended by some very extraordinary kids. Like his buddy Alex. Alex and his family came to DC to see the sights and get the boys together again, and seeing them together filled me with one of those rare moments of regret. When we lived in Plymouth, we happened to fall into the perfect niche, where our kids went to preschool with REALLY. GOOD. kids and their parents were all really good folks. Had we stayed, I could say with 99% surety our boys would have had a wonderful childhood. And 99% sure these boys are going to grow into promising young men. And they still will, but little Philip will be somewhere else and it is sad. 

At times like this, I worry about the future and worry about the decision we have made. And then I take a deep breath and rely on faith. Its harder diving into the deep unknown when you have children to be concerned for. But if you have faith, you can be strong. And when you are strong, your kids feel that strength too. And so the goodbyes are heartbreaking, like this one. But watching little Philip dry his tears and move forward made me proud too.

We had a blast last weekend too-we were grateful the Kelsey's came all the way down to DC to visit. It was beautiful weather for sightseeing, so we hit some of the monuments and took the kids to the National Zoo.

They were hilarious to watch, playing wild tigers on the lawn in front of the White House..

They explored the reptile building at the zoo, and hunted for pandas.

We witnessed what happens when two boys try to kiss and say goodbye.